Summer Music Programs

Wednesday, July 18 through Saturday, July 28, 2012

Audition upload required. Application deadline: April 1.

Let the world's top Wagner teachers, coaches and conductors help launch your career into the Wagnerian repertoire. Join renowned opera singers and teachers Jane Eaglen and Timothy Mussard and much sought-after coach/conductors Eric Weimer and William Vendice for ten days of intensive training. The curriculum includes private lessons, repetoire coachings, scene study, German language study, staging rehearsals, master classes and final performances on Saturday, July 28. Mature singers who are exploring the Wagnerian repertoire are encouraged to submit an audition by April 1, 2012 for consideration.

Typical Daily Schedule

All Intensive students will participate in a minimum of:

• 2 60-minute private lessons
• 4 60-minute coaching with repetitor / conductor
• 2 60-minute rehearsals with accompanist
• 2 30-minute coaching with German language specialist
• 1 master class
• multiple scene study / staging rehearsals, most including conductor
• dress rehearsal with conductor 
• 2 public performances on Saturday, July 28

Master Classes

All will participate in masterclasses during the Intensive.  All Wagner Intensive artistic staff will present public master classes and participants will have the opportunity to perform in at least one master class each.

Performances

All performances and master classes are open to the public. Performances and masterclasses will take place in Gamble Auditorium, Kulas Musical Arts Building at 96 Front Street, Berea, Ohio.

Final performances on Saturday, July 28 will include staged scenes and/or arias that have been prepared during the Intensive and will also take place in Gamble Auditorium.

Application Procedure

Video auditions are required for all Wagner Intensive applicants; audition videos must be uploaded to http://digitalaudition.bw.edu.  The audition video should include two contrasting arias from the Wagnerian repertoire.  Your audition video must be uploaded and application, resume, headshot and deposit received by April 1, 2012, in order to be considered for participation in the Intensive.   Live auditions are welcomed.  Please contact Caroline Arendec at the Conservatory Outreach office for details, 440-826-2365.

Applications are now available for download.

Fees

Tuition, room and board -- $2,800

A $200 tuition deposit must accompany the application and will be applied toward tuition.  The deposit will be refunded for those students not admitted to the program.  The deposit is non-refundable to those accepted to the program.  Payment in full is due by June 1 and no refunds will be made after that date.

Facilities

All lessons, classes, rehearsals and performances will take place in the B-W Conservatory of Music's new facility.  Open as of May 2011, the facility includes new and updated rehearsal halls, classrooms, teaching studios and practice rooms.  All spaces are air-conditioned and provide adequate acoustical separation for optimal learning and rehearsal. 

Housing

All participants will be provided with on-campus housing and all meals.  Participants will reside in private rooms in the air-conditioned residence hall at 21 Beech Street just across the lawn from the Conservatory and within a short walk of the Student Union where meals will be served.

Artist Faculty

Jane Eaglen, artist faculty member and co-artistic director of the B-W Wagner Intensive (click on name for full bio)

Timothy Mussard, artist faculty member and co-artistic director of the B-W Wagner Intensive (click on name for full bio)

Coach / Conductor Eric Weimer has established himself as one of the pre-eminent coach / Assistant Conductors in the international opera world. Through his work at some of the world's leading companies--in particular, Lyric Opera of Chicago, the Metropolitan Opera, and the Bayreuth Festival, but also the San Francisco Opera, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and Cleveland Orchestra--he has prepared some 150 productions, collaborating with most of the world's greatest opera maestri: James Levine, Sir Andrew Davis, Bruno Bartoletti, Donald Runnicles, Zubin Mehta, Daniel Barenboim, Franz Welser-Moest, Antonio Pappano, James Conlon, Christoph Eschenbach, Christian Thielemann, and Georg Solti. In this work, he has coached and worked closely with virtually all the major singers active on the international opera stage. He has prepared twelve complete cycles of Wagners's Der Ring des Nibelungen and is also known for the breadth of his experience with other repertoires, particularly the Baroque and the Italian. Weimer's most recent activities have included conducting productions by the DePaul School of Music of The Marriage of Figaro and Hansel and Gretel, and in 2008 he conducted two acclaimed performances of Il barbiere di Siviglia at Lyric Opera of Chicago.

Conductor William Vendice was Head of Music Staff and Chorus Master at Los Angeles Opera from 1995 to 2007. At LA Opera Vendice has conducted performances of Norma, La Bohème, Hänsel und Gretel, Madama Butterfly, Barber of Seville, Aida, Tosca, La Traviata and Die Zauberflöte. Prior to his return to his native California, Vendice was a member of the conducting staff at the Metropolitan Opera where he debuted in 1983 with Barber of Seville. While at the Met, he also conducted Lucia di Lammermoor, Die Entföhrung aus dem Serail, Porgy and Bess, L'italiana in Algeri, and the Finals Concert of the Metropolitan National Auditions.  Vendice has conducted internationally at Berlin's Theater des Westens, Hamburg Opera, Puerto Rico Opera, Banff Festival, Israel Opera Institute, the Perelada Festival in Barcelona, and with the Winterthur Orchestra in Switzerland. In the U.S. he has led Eugene Opera, New England Lyric Opera, Chatauqua Opera, Hollybush Festival in New Jersey, the San Francisco Opera Mozart Festival and was Music Director of Western Opera Theater for the San Francisco Opera. He has also been assistant conductor at Houston Grand Opera, Opera Company of Boston, Santa Fe Opera, Venice's La Fenice and Grand Théâtre de Genève.  One of the nation's outstanding vocal coaches, William Vendice is equally well known in the field of vocal education. He was Music Director of University of Southern California Opera from 1992 to 1995 and Music Director of UCLA Opera from 1996 to 2004.  He has judged for the Met auditions, Spotlight Awards and Bel Canto Society Awards. He was a guest coach for San Francisco Opera's Merola Program during the 2010 session.

Master class guest artist Nancy Maultsby's operatic career has included a wide range of roles in some of the world's most prestigious houses. She has performed often with Lyric Opera of Chicago, where she appeared as Erda in Das Rheingold and Siegfried, as well as the First Norn and Waltraute in Götterdämmerung, all conducted by Zubin Mehta. She also sang La Cieca in La Gioconda there conducted by Bruno Bartoletti and Pauline in Pique Dame conducted by Sir Andrew Davis, both of which opened the company's season. She appeared as Erda in both Das Rheingold and Siegfried and Waltraute in Götterdämmerung in the new Stephen Wadsworth Ring cycle with Seattle Opera. Ms. Maultsby has sung Fricka at Stuttgart Opera; Jocasta in Stravinsky's Oedipus Rex in Naples, Rome, Dresden and Athens; Charlotte, Carmen and Orlovsky at Seattle Opera; Maddalena at the Netherlands Opera; Amneris with Minnesota Opera, Michigan Opera Theater, Palm Beach Opera and at the National Theater Athens; Ottavia in Athens; Cornelia in Giulio Cesare at Florida Grand Opera and Opera Colorado; Maddalena at the Netherlands Opera; and Adalgisa in Genoa. Other operatic engagements have included productions of Die Ägyptische Helena at the Royal Opera, Covent Garden (under Christian Thielemann); Carmen at San Francisco Opera and Pittsburgh Opera; and productions at the Teatro Colón, Buenos Aires and Santa Fe Opera. A recent addition to her repertoire is Judith in Bartók's Bluebeard's Castle which she sang in the acclaimed Robert Lepage production for her debut at the Opéra de Montréal, where she subsequently returned as Amneris.

Gordon Hawkins is critically acclaimed throughout the world for his in-depth interpretations and luxuriant baritone voice. He recently made a triumphant San Francisco Opera debut as Alberich in Francesca Zambello’s highly-acclaimed RING Cycle: "As the malign dwarf, Gordon Hawkins was a most impressive Alberich, singing with robust power and making the villain’s dark emotions – longing, pain, greed, shame, and unadulterated hatred – chillingly manifest." – Classical Review. Considered the leading Alberich in the world, he has also performed it with the Washington National Opera, Teatro de la Maestranza in Seville, and the Los Angeles Opera.

In the current season and beyond, engagements include Alberich in Der Ring des Nibelungen wth the Deutsche Oper Berlin; Alberich in Siegfried at Teatro de la Maestranza in Seville; Telramund in Lohengrin at Deutsche Oper Berlin; Renato in Un Ballo in Maschera at the New Orleans Opera; Crown in Porgy and Bess at Cincinnati Opera; and Amonasro in Aida at Lyric Opera of Chicago.